Prairie Babies/Transcript
This is a transcript for [[Prairie Babies|'Prairie Babies']]. Transcript Scene 1: Introduction (The camera pans to the right and zooms into a highway as a semi-truck/18-wheeler and a vintage Volkswagen van pass by.) Bill Grunkemeyer (Narrator): At first glances land appears empty, desolate, a place to be hurried across. Its terrain is monotonous, repetitive, and seemingly endless. (We start seeing prairie terrain.) The winters are cold, the summers are hot. During the day there's a constant and wearing flow of wind. (We see mountains in the distance before the camera zooms into them.) Most visitors to this land see nothing in the rolling landscape of sage, broken only with an occasional grow with trees that follow the river bottoms, or surrounded isolated spring. The eye is usually drawn toward a lot of peeks beyond. (The music begins playing.) (The camera zooms into a nest with baby prairie birds.) Once the visitor is tuned into this country, it is amazingly alive, and anything but monotonous. Out here in this seeming desolation, there is an abundance and a diverse population of wildlife. (We start seeing more prairie animals.) The very best time of year to see wildlife is spring. Spring, when the young arrive, to revitalize the land. The vast expanses are alive with the newborn, complete with their special antics of spring. Let's go on a springtime visit, and get acquainted with the prairie babies. (The introduction presentation with some photos plays.) Scene 2: Field with Sage Grouse Narrator: Spring officially begins with the spring solstice, around the 21st of March. Late March and early April on the prairie doesn't have the traditional springtime look. There's only a hind of green grass. The hills are still clad and winter's brown, but to the prairie wildlife, it is spring. (The sage grouse move around in different places.) Events that usher and the parents of the prairie babies are in full swing. These are sage grouse, largest of all grouse. They're as big as a large chicken, and many people call 'em "sage chickens." (The sage grouse continue moving around.) Like all grouse, they have a very complex courtship ritual. Their life centers around spreading grounds. These spreading grounds are called "licks," and every spring the male grouse return to their selected licks. (The camera zooms out of the grouse.) The grouse for some unknown reason have picked a location for the grounds, and they will return to the same location year after year. Even a recently constructed road doesn't interfere with the location of this lek. The males are called "cocks" and they arrive on the lek about the middle of March. Immediately they begin to spread their finery. (The cocks battle.) The cocks decide by direct conflict, who is the strongest, and therefore the dominant bird on the lek. The male on the left is the dominant, and the male on the right is called the "subdominant." Once the hens arrive, these two will constantly test one another. (The cocks move away from each other before we see another grouse battle.) The younger, less dominant cocks are always challenging one another. This bickering established their ranking on the grounds. (The cocks stop battling.) The courtship display of the male sage grouse is an unusual sight. This large and arrow-dynamic bird will transform itself into a configuration that resembles a drum set. Tail fanned, wings forward, chest blown up and extended, he steps forward, sucks in air, and with a rotary motion, wings rubbing against the spiny feathers of his breast, beats out his love song with a swish and a plop. This is like no other bird you have ever seen. (The sage grouse slowly move around in different places.) The dominant bird will have the center territory on the lek. The younger and less dominant birds will surround it. Here's an unusual sight: this lek is either two licks, or one lek with two centers. It can be seen that there are clusters of hens around two different dominant males. (We start seeing female grouse.) From the first to the middle of April the females are hens arrive and the courtship ritual is in full swing. The hens are smaller than the cocks and lack the expanded chest. (The hens continue moving slowly.) The hens will have little to do with the less dominant males and walk right to the center of the lek to the dominant's territory. Here, the hen will almost always choose the dominant male as her mate. (The hens start flying away, but this time, it's fully daytime.) The hens leave the lek about an hour and a half after sunrise. The males stay longer, but soon they too fly off to their feeding areas. Activities on the ground won't get started again until that evening. Scene 3: Prairie Birds (The music begins playing.) Narrator: (a meadowlark chirps) April signals the beginning. Many birds that spend their winter and the warmer climates begin to arrive. The quiet of winter is replaced by the excitement of spring. The buildup to the arrival of the prairie babies is in full swing. (We start seeing redwing blackbirds.) The prairie marshes are punctuated with the black dots of returning redwing blackbirds. Love is in the air. The cording redwing male puts on his finest black, acceded with brilliant red shoulder patches. (The birds still chirp.) The female redwing is less colorful. The voice is her opinion as she searches for the best mate, and the best place to build her nest. (A robin flies to a nest.) The leaves begin to emerge, and the robins begin to prepare their nests. They haul in sticks and dead grass. They particularly like the grass that is wet and muddy as it holds the nest together. The mother robin turns around and around, making sure her nest is just the right size. (The music ends.) Scene 4: Field with Sharp-Tailed Grouse (We start seeing the sharp tail grouse moving around during a nighttime-like time of day in the very early morning while the sun rises.) Narrator: Every sunrise brings more rituals of spring. The strange clicking sound is coming from the sharp-tailed grouse, (Next, there's daylight.) the cousin of the large sage grouse we saw earlier in the spring. (The sharp-tailed grouse start moving around.) In addition to the "swish plop" rhythm of the sage grouse, we add to the prairie sound system, the "snare drum beat" of the sharp tail. (The sharp-tailed grouse stay in an idle position before moving around again.) (We see a close-up of a sharp-tailed grouse.) These flashy little relatives of the sage grouse found out their own rhythm of courtship. (After the sharp-tailed grouse moves, we see the same clip again, but in a slow-motion effect.) The sound the sharp-tailed grouse makes seems to be coming from the bird stamping its feet on the ground. Actually, the unusual sound is coming from the tail feathers, snapping together at a speed of 48 times per second. This movement is called "tail rattling." The movement is so fast the slow-motion shows better action of the tail. (The other sharp-tailed grouse start moving again, with the camera facing them at a further perspective.) The sharp-tailed grouse, like the sage grouse, also perform their mating ritual, on a long established lek. (Back at the sage grouse lek...) The sage grouse lek is referred to as the strutting ground, where the large credit sage grouse struck their finery. (At the sharp-tailed grouse lek again.) The sharp-tailed lek is called the "dancing ground," and these little fellas are dancers. (The sharp-tailed grouse continue moving.) The sharp-tailed leks are usually found on the tops of ridges, and there are normally fewer birds per lick than sage grouse. This lick has about 35 birds, and is an unusually large ground. (We see another lek of sharp-tailed grouse.) This lek has about 15 birds, and has a more normal size for the sharp-tailed. The lek is the center of life for the male sharp-tailed. They are never very far from the ground most times of the year. And it's not uncommon to see them dancing during any season. The sharp-tailed, like the sage grouse, have a similar structure and order on their dancing grounds. The dominant male again is located on the center of the ground. (The music ends.) On the sharp-tail ground it's harder to identify the dominant male. Look where the hens are, and one of those males near the hens is probably the dominant male. (A dominant grouse battle occurs.) On a particularly large ground like this one, there is very little difference between number one and number two grouse. (The battle continues.) The battling for dominance is fierce, feathers flying. (The battle still continues.) The less dominant birds are constantly challenging, the dominant male's status. Each male bird has a territory which he defends. The birds will come together at the edges of these territories and what biologists call "ritual fighting." (The grouse birds stay in an idle position.) The prairie band is complete, the grouse are the rhythm section, and the other birds take their various leads. (We watch the grouse perform actions, with video effects added to some clips.) Scene 5: Prairie Birds and Red Fox Pups (The camera zooms out of a small pond.) Narrator: We have seen the beginning of spring, leading us to the time when the babies will begin to arrive. The land seems to prepare itself for this wonderful event. The drab browns are replaced with the brilliant green, accented with colors of many varieties of flowers. (The camera zooms into a field of sunflowers, and we see a bee moving on a different yellow flower before we next see a fox running.) Mother fox has had her pups. But they won't show themselves until they're about five weeks old. She is on the run to get enough food to feed her growing litter. (We see a den.) Her den is a hole in the ground marked only by a mound of dirt. (We start seeing the prairie birds again.) The many birds begin to lay their eggs and start the incubation process. Birds lay their eggs one at a time. After they lay a proper number, they will begin to sit and incubate the eggs. And this way, the eggs will begin to grow at the same time, and when the baby birds hatch, it's altogether. (A robin tries to correctly set up his nest.) The poor old robin still hasn't got his nest to fit. Get it right honey. (The music continues playing before it stops.) Scene 6: American Bison Narrator: The most visible animals on the prairies and plains are the large animals, like the American bison, the pronghorn antelope, and the mule deer. The appearance of the prairie babies begins with these large animals. Other babies have been born like the prairie dogs and the foxes. But they're not visible for a while yet. Baby bison are the first to appear, being born during the first part of May. The newborn calf is a reddish color. But after about two months, the hair color changes to a standard, dark brown of the rest of the herd. Bison are a close relative of cattle, sheep and goats. They're much bigger in all. In fact they're the largest terrestrial, or land mammal in North America. Just like cattle, the male bison is called a "bull," while the female is referred to as the "cow." The baby bison is called a "calf." The cow almost always has only one calf. Twins are unusual, but they have been reported. During the calving season, there will be a few more boy calves than there are girl calves, but it is very close. Bison calves are like babies anywhere. First and foremost, they like to eat. Then they like to sleep. Most of all, they like to play. (The calves have fun.) The American bison are "buffalo," as they are sometimes called, is characterized by a short broad forehead, with a narrow muzzle. Bison have massive heads, a short neck, and a high hump on their shoulders. Early day explorers called the bison, "buffalo," and the name's stuck. True buffalo are only found in Africa and Asia, and do not have the characteristic hump of the bison. Fossil record showed that the bison came to America over a Bering land bridge that, many years ago, existed between Russia and Alaska. This land bridge accounted from many animals coming to North America. We have all heard of the massive killing of the great bison herds of the great plains, during the settlement of the west. It wasn't just the bison that nearly meant "total elimination." Deer, elk, bighorn sheep and antelope also suffered from the indiscriminate killing during the late 1800s and early 1900s. Luckily, people would force "I prevail," and many animals threatened with extinction have been saved. Deer, elk, bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope are all well managed, and their numbers are no longer threatened. The bison is no longer threatened, and now roams free in many national parks. Scene 7: Prairie Dogs (The camera zooms into a group of prairie dogs.) Narrator: In early accounts of the western prairies, great emphasis was placed on the buffalo and their large numbers. But there was one animal that outnumbered the buffalo: the prairie dog. Their numbers were estimated to be in the billions of animals when Lewis and Clark first explored the west. It was not unusual for a colony to be over a hundred miles and a hundred miles wide. Unlike the bison, their numbers have never been threatened. The prairie dog is not a dog, but takes its name from its bark. The bark is part of an effective alarm system that protects the entire colony from predators. (The prairie dogs still continue barking.) Certain animals in the colony are lookouts. (A large bird flies in the sky.) If they see a predator on the ground or the skies above, they signal with their barking, alerting the rest of the residents. Stopping partway to the hole to look could be a fatal mistake for this youngster. As he gains experience, he will do like these two youngsters, and dive in the hole the first sign of danger. Mama prairie dog knows about getting out of sight. The mother prairie dog will have an average of five pups. They're born in the spring, blindly naked, and a grassline nest, located on the side tunnel underground. Like most kids the baby prairie dogs enjoy life the most when they can get outside and enjoy life the most when they can get outside and enjoy the warm spring sun. (The camera zooms out of the prairie dogs.) When the buffalo roamed the prairies and high plains, they many times spend the summer in or near prairie dog towns. The mounds of dirt around the prairie dog hole made excellent dust wallows for the bison. What they were really for is to keep the water out of the hole. (A group of buffalo is shown.) A prairie dog was in definite danger being squashed under a rolling buffalo. Scene 8: Pronghorn Antelope (The camera moves through a field of sunflowers.) Narrator: With the green grass of May painted across the prairies and the high plains, it's time for another large animal: the pronghorn antelope, to have their babies. (We begin seeing the pronghorn antelope.) The pronghorn babies are born in the last week in May through the first two weeks of June. As with most wild animals, this short period is necessary to allow the newborn to be large enough and strong enough to make it through the long cold winters, experienced on most of the pronghorn's range. The pronghorn's home is the wide open spaces of the prairies and high plains. When baby antelope are up and moving with their mothers, they are quite easy to spot. The mother antelope is called a "doe," and its baby is called the "fawn." For the first few days of life, the doe antelope will lay the fawn down in the grass or under a bush. The only time they get up is to nurse. This fawn is so new he misses the food connection. One would think that out here in the open spaces, it would be almost impossible to hide. (A fawn is about to hide.) But watch this baby disappear, in an area that doesn't even have any bushes. (A still image of a hiding fawn is shown.) It's a common occurrence to come across a fawn antelope laying emotionless on the ground. It's a zift they have been deserted, for no mother antelope can be seen in any direction. (The camera zooms into a group with an antelope and baby fawns.) It's a wonder of nature that a doe can find her fawn, laying under a bush out here in a land that resembles an ocean. But with unairing navigation she steers to just the right bush. In a few days the baby antelope is strong enough to follow Mother, and runs at what looks like a blinding pace, but turns out to only be an easy trot for mother. (The doe and fawn run straight.) The fawns will have some growing to do before they're ready for the races. Even at this tender age, the babies can run faster than most predators. The pronghorn is the only true, native American animal. Its range is in the western United States, from southern Canada to northern Mexico. The male pronghorn is called the "buck." All the buck antelope have horns. The older they get, the higher the horns, until they reach about 16 or 17 inches above their head. The buck sheds the outer shell of their horn each year. The shedding of the horn is unique in the animal world. (The camera pans to two antelope before we see a close up of a doe.) The doe has horns but they never get very tall. The buck fawns will begin to grow horns when they're about two months old while the doe fawns wait until they're a year old. (Two pronghorn antelope move off the screen before we see two different pronghorn antelope run up a hill.) The pronghorn antelope is a "world class running machine," easily the fastest animal in North America. The pronghorn can reach speeds and excess of 55 miles an hour, over sage brush and rough terrain. (The pronghorn antelope run on a hilltop.) In weight it is much larger than a sheep. Its long slender legs and neck make the animal look much bigger. They are built like a race car that is all engine. The pronghorn's "engine" is heart, lungs and legs. (Two pronghorn antelope drink water.) Along with its tremendous speed, the pronghorn has exceptional eyesight, often times compared to an eight-power binocular. The eyes are set out on the side of the head for excellent front and back vision. It's no wonder that a pronghorn antelope's chief means a defense is spot with the eyes, and run with the body. They also have an excellent sense of smell, but prefer to use their superior sight and speed to survive. (a buck checks a water hole) Watch this buck checking out a water hole before he drinks. He studies a surrounding terrain before he will even approach the water. Note his nose doesn't twitch, he simply uses his eyes and stares. (the pronghorn antelope go to a water hole) The pronghorn antelope is high-strung and nervous. A good example of this is a common experience at a water hole. The slightest click or movement sends the animals scurrying away. (The pronghorn antelope run away.) Scene 9: Mule Deer Narrator: Another large animal that is highly visible on the prairies and high plains landscape is the mule deer. The mule deer is characterized by its large mule-like ears and its black tip tail. Like the pronghorn antelope, the male mule deer is called a "buck," and the female is called a "doe." The doe's baby, like the antelope, is called a "fawn." (We see a fawn hiding.) The mule deer's babies are born a week or so later than the pronghorn antelope, about the first two weeks in June. They also spend the first week or so laying down hiding, gaining strength. (We see the mule deer again.) Unlike the antelope, Mother mule deer prefers to keep her babies out of sight for practically a month. Mule deer babies are much harder to find because they're usually hidden in the tall, thick brush. They're born with spots that break up their outline, and help camouflage them from view. Other deer stays very close by, but will trot away luring any predator after her. She will then lose him in the rough terrain. (Two fawns move around.) The mule deer doesn't have the blinding speed of the antelope. So it prefers to live in a rougher country, with many hills and valleys. This country will have more brush, trees and rocks, (A mule deer moves between the brush.) where a deer can quickly get out of view. The mule deer has good eyesight, but depends more on its nose to tell it where possible danger may be lurking. Scene 10: Red-tailed Hawks and Meadowlarks (A large bird flies over the terrain.) Narrator: At the time the baby fawns are born the many birds that live on the prairies and high plains are beginning to hatch their young. (The large bird continues flying and gets close to the terrain.) The larger birds of prey have hatched their babies by June, (We see a nest.) and they are growing fast. These are baby red-tailed hawks. (We see the large red-tailed hawk flying again.) It's necessary for the larger birds to have their babies earlier because it takes them longer to grow to a size where they can learn to fly. (After we watch the red-tailed hawk fly over the terrain, we see the babies again.) Baby red-tailed hawks are born in May, but it will be July before they're ready to begin flying and hunting. (Music starts playing as the camera starts zooming out of a white egg with tiny spots on it.) The prairies and high plains are marked by contrast - a nest in a tree, to a nest flat on the ground. These are baby meadowlarks. They're about a week old, together with one egg that didn't hatch. Meadowlark babies grow at an incredible rate. It's a very short time until they hide out of the nest and begin to learn to fly. (We see a yellow and gray meadowlark from earlier.) The meadowlark is a very visible bird on the prairies and high plains. With its yellow breast flashing and its melodious call ringing across the hills and valleys, it is a sure sign that spring has arrived. This bird is thought of so highly that there are more than ten western states that have adopted it as their "state bird." (We see another meadowlark moving around.) The meadowlark is adapted to life on the flat terrain of the prairies and high plains. It feeds mostly on the ground on insects and seeds. The bird comes equipped with a long pointed beak that can reach through the grass to grab its food. It will build its nest flat on the ground, with the babies depending on camouflage and a rapid growth rate for survival. The mother and father meadowlark are very weary of giving their nest location away. When they're ready to leave their nest, the babies simply walk away into the surrounding tall grass. Their feather pattern allows them to disappear from view. (The music ends.) Mother and father will feed them while they're getting it together, and very soon they're airborne. Scene 11: Red Fox Pups Narrator: Other prairie babies are emerging. (The clip with a red fox pup flies away before the red fox pups come out of their den.) These fox pups have spent most of their new life in the safety of the den. (Another fox appears.) For the last five or six weeks, their world is revolved around the hole in the ground. Now they're too big for the den and they come out to meet the rest of the world. (The foxes have fun playing with each other.) These are red fox pups, and there are usually five in a litter. (The foxes continue having fun.) The red fox is distinguished by the white tip on their tail. The big bushy tail is very important to the foxes—it helps them balance when chasing prey. The tail can also be wrapped around his body in the winter to keep him warm. (the foxes still have fun) During the spring Mother fox has kept busy, hunting for her beautified pups. The fox likes to hunt in the early morning, evenings and at night. But when her brute is this big, she may be out hunting any time of the day. A person is much more likely to see a fox during the spring. Catching prey and coordinations starts at home. And these fox pups are learning balance, tenacity and flexibility, by you've guessed it: playing. (A montage of footage plays as the foxes keep on playing.) Scene 12: Water Babies (We see prairie terrain before the camera turns to the pond from earlier.) Narrator: Water is of course necessary for life, and the prairies and high plains don't have an abundance of surface water. Water is present from natural springs, as well as man-made reservoirs. (We see a couple baby birds.) Springs are places where the water flows from the ground to the surface forming a wet place, or even a pond. (The camera turns away from the pond.) Reservoirs are made by building a dam, and trapping the water that runs off the surface, forming a pond. Many of these reservoirs have been built over the years, and they have greatly increased the usable range for wild and domestic animals. (Two birds float on a different pond.) The prairie wetlands are a vital link in the survival of many migratory birds. Waterfowl, as well as many other species of bird, depend on these natural, as well as man-made awaysis, for life giving water. (We see several ducks floating on a pond.) During the drow cycle of the 1980s, the duck population has been reduced considerably because many of the wetlands of the upper Midwest and Canada have dried out. The ducks need the water to raise their young, and when they don't have it, they won't nest. (We continue watching the ducks until we see a baby killdeer.) As spring gradually gives way to the hot days of summer, water becomes less available. Water holes and ponds are great places to watch wildlife. (Some antelope go to a water hole.) If there isn't any other water, antelope will come several miles to drink at a water hole. (The camera zooms into the antelope before we see the sage grouse again.) The sage grouse will spend most of the summer around water holes because that's where they find food and water. (We see an antelope from a further perspective.) The weather can get very hot on the prairies and high plains. Temperatures and excess of a hundred are common. Wildlife has adapted to these extremes in temperature. The antelope has hollow hair that insulates it from the heat, as well as the cold. (A mother redwing blackbird feeds her babies.) This redwing blackbird takes timeout from feeding its young to shelter them from the midday sun. During the midday when the sun is directly overhead, there is no shade from surrounding vegetation. The sun is intense. The female redwing instinctively know that it is more important to protect her babies from the sun than it is to feed them for a couple of hours. (We see the baby killdeer again.) I think the ground is so hot this killdeer stands on one foot than another so it won't burn its feet. Kids always have the best solution, like this baby killdeer waiting in the water. Scene 13: What's Happening at the Prairies and High Plains, the Golden Eagle, and The Ending Narrator: Prairie animals have different methods of protecting their babies from danger. For the bison, there is safety because of the mother's great size. In addition, there are other bison in the herd that will also protect the young. Antelopes spot trouble and run away. (At a further perspective, an antelope turns around and runs away from a water hole.) A killdeer doesn't have great size, and its babies can't run very fast, so has developed a crafty method for luring danger away. The adult will fake a broken wing. After danger is far enough from the baby killdeer, the mother or father flies away. (We see a field transitioning from green to yellow.) The season of spring and the wild babies of the prairies never last long enough. It seems like overnight, the brilliant green is faded to the yellow of summer. (Some birds fly around the flowers.) The birds are learning to fly and now concentrate on eating and growing stronger - many preparing to fly south. (We see the pronghorn antelope from a further perspective as the camera zooms out of them.) The pronghorn, bison and mule deer concentrate on getting fat, so they can make it through the cold winter, not long way. Nature has given the ability to survive and thrive in this seeming desolation. (Next, we see a golden eagle flying.) The golden eagle is the symbol of life with the prairie and high plains. He is the top of the food chain. (The golden eagle sits on a tree branch before the video fades to a still image of the sharp-tailed grouse in the sunrise.) All life begins with the first link in the chain: the sun. The sun provides energy to the next link: (A picture of green growing plants is on display.) the growing of the plants from the land. (We see a prairie dog.) Animals that eat the grass are the next link, (We see the golden eagle again.) and animals like the eagle, who feed on the grass eaters are the top of the food chain. When we see an eagle feeding its babies, we know that the land is providing for all the other animals. If we don't see the eagle, then we know that something is wrong, and a link is missing from the chain. Not only does this affect the eagle, but it will affect people. People like you and me are also the top of the food chain. When we visit the prairies and the high plains and see the eagle, we know that all the other animals out there are living well. So it is with wildlife. These fascinating critters are a measure of our environment. In the spring, what we see is fragile, cute and fuzzy. But they all really mean much more to us - these prairie babies. (The video shifts back to like it was before in the introduction.) (The closing credits roll.) Details Transcription by WildlifeFan.Category:Transcripts